live from new york where business never sleeps, this is "squawk box. good morning welcome to "squawk box" here on cnbc we are live from the nasdaq market site in times square. i'm becky quick along with andrew ross sorkin joe is out today sitting in is dana telsey fro from telsey advisory group good to see you this morning >> thank you >> are you having some issues not being in the malls >> i've been there already i've seen some sales >> i bet after the show you will be right back? >> you bet all day, all night >> dana is with us for the next three hours. on wednesday you saw the dow down, and the s&p down slightly. nasdaq was higher. again, we're looking at a strong

weak so far. the dow and s&p 500 even with those losses on wednesday are on pace for the best week in five nasdaq with the biggest week in seven weeks. in morngs ding dow futures up b5 points, s&p up by 3, and the nasdaq up by 6 overnight in asia, the nikkei ended up just slightly. up by 27 points. the hang seng by a half percentage point in europe this morning, with some of the early trading, it looks like the dax is up by 0.3% the cac in france up bay half percentage point stocks are slightly weaker in london, but italian and spanish stocks are in the green. also look at crude oil prices. crude jumping on wednesday by 2.1%, setting a 2.5-year high. it was sitting at 58.02. this morning we're up again, 63

cents higher to 58.65. a couple of corporate stories we're watching teva pharmaceuticals will lay off thousands of employees in israel and the united states they will be reportedly sending termination letters to 10% of its 10,000 employees earlier this month we heard teva said it would be missing its 2017 profit forecast due to falling prices of generics in the u.s. market and weakened sales of its multiple sclerosis drug a danish executive was appointed to the ceo role in september new details out yesterday about uber's massive data breach the company said it discussed the breach with soft bank before it went public with the details on tuesday uber said it had a duty to disclose the data breach investigation to a potential investor even though the information was incomplete

dara khosrowshahi learned of the data breach two months before the company disclosed it >> really? he was the one saying this was unacceptable >> look, these data breaches, always a question of what do you say, when do you say it? >> when do you know things that is disturbing i was always looking at him as being not involved, somebody who came in later. >> this is more complicated. not only was there the breach itself, but the payoff to the hacker er ers to keep the breach secret if i told me that on monday -- i don't know that it could r wowom two months to tell you, but -- >> that's a long time. >> and what data was breached. >> it's like 53 million, but not

credit card information, but for the the600,000 drivers, it was license information. also but in this morning, uber and mahindra announcing a partnership in india uber will be using electric car vehicles in india it has been slow, by the government pushing for all cars to be electric by 2030 the car company will be providing financing, insurance and vehicle services for the vehicles they will work together to set up charging stations in target cities >> cbs and dish network resolved a dispute over carriage fees that ended a three-day blackout that affected customers from

watching the cowboys/chargers game yesterday that's playing high stakes, not letting you get your football. >> it did. sources tell the associated press that lawyers for former national security adviser michael flynn have stopped working with president trump's legal team flynn's attorneys made that decision known this week it's a move that could signal flynn's willingness to cooperate with special prosecutor robert mueller's investigation into russia interfering in last year's presidential election there are other reasons for his legal team to potentially stop cooperating with trump's team, including concern about future conflicts of interest. >> if you watched preet pa b's twitter feed, he has a viewpoint on this. jamie dimon said this on wednesday, he expects donald trump to be a one-term president.

dimon told the economic club of chicago that he expects a new u.s. president in 2021 and advised the democratic party to come up with a pro free enterprise agenda for jobs and economic growth. dimon also commented on foreign affairs. he said we should never be rude to a neighbor like mexico and warned that political weakness of german chancellor angela merkel is bad for all of the u.s. >> i read his comments a little differently. not that he necessarily thinks donald trump is a one-term president. he said if the democrats do not put up someone pro economic growth -- >> that he will be >> yeah. >> the headline came out that way. >> then i read deep near it. my read of it, it was a warning to the democrats if you put up an elizabeth warren or bernie sanders - >> that makes more sense to me given that he runs jpmorgan and the business roundtable, which represents the largest companies in america --

>> my read of it he was saying to the democrats, you could potentially take back the white house in four years, but not if you put up somebody who does not have a pro economic agenda >> i'm so glad you read on thifing what ththi thanksgiving what this all meant. >> it didn't jibe with me. it was much more nuanced than the headlines make it seem it was more of a warning, if you go with elizabeth warren or bernie sanders, you will see pru president trump get re-elected >> it will be interesting to see, his further comments as he moves on >> right i think he would probably be surprised by some headlines that came out of that >> i'll have to go back and read it now the official start to the holiday shopping season is now under way. courtney reagan -- this is like an annual ritual for us. >> it is >> she joins us from the woodbridge mall in woodbridge,

new jersey good morning >> good morning. it's an annual tradition for me, it's been this way since way before i covered retail as a reporter i always used to go out shopping with my aunts. it was a family tradition. i'm not alone because between 30% and 60% of american consumers will be shopping on black friday the real action kicked off last night in the stores. early evening hours is when you see the door buster sales at walmart, target and macy's walmart's chief merchant saying foot traffic was great the online shopping action for many of those retailers began ear early, pre-dawn on thanksgiving day. adobe says sales online are up 17% year over year, that was on thanksgiving day just until 5:00 we don't even have the full day

yet. captifi says the most searched for retailers so far today are best buy, number one, followed by walmart, kohl's and target. wiser has realtime survey data they are saying 81% of consumers will shop on amazon, but in addition to other retailers. only 19% are going there exclusively. amazon says that mobile is really strong for it, especially on thanksgiving. so on thanksgiving day, amazon saw its mobile orders increase by 50% over last year. lastly, catch point is watching different websites for us to see the performance, the speed h & m has gone down twice now. once between 5:30 and 6:30 p.m. on thanksgiving and again this morning at 4:30 a.m. that's going to cost it some money. back over to you guys.

>> thank you we'll see you many times throughout the day i have a selfish he can for dana i thought i was supposed to wait until monday for cybermonday for all of these online sales to take place but i already am seeing all sorts of sales taking place online i haven't even gone to the store yet. what am i supposed to do >> buy what you want to buy and when you want to buy >> but i'm the cheapest person you know >> are the deals going to be re better on monday than oday >> are the deals going to be an extra 10% on monday? >> i think it's just as good on monday we've seen the deals start almost two weeks ago yes, today is a better deal. you will get an extra 10% or a gift, the deals will be today, monday you may be getting extra, but will they be in stock? >> they may not have it anymore.

>> the consumer is the king. that's what's happening. >> are you going to buy online today or in the store? >> i'm about the store i'm buying in the store. i will buy online, too i may buy online on monday i was out there yesterday, too >> dana, here's my thing i went on wednesday night and tried to go to a carter's, because i needed some things for the baby i thought, great, i can run in quickly. i went to the carter's store that's always been there, it's gone i had to turn around, go back. made me start thinking i feel like the consumer has been king for so long, we have been able to do what we want, now you have to close some of these stores because you can't maintain all of them with fewer of us heading out. a lot of times i buy online, it's not frequently i'm out in a store. is the tide turning? will the consumer not being able to do whatever you want whenever you wanted because the stores will finally have to start consolidating? >> we've seen the stores consolidate this year. we're seen the most store

closures in many years you'll still have the best shopping centers get the best tenants. >> but they wanted me to go another 4.2 miles which doesn't sound far when i looked up where the next one was, it would have taken me an extra 25 minutes to get there. >> if that center is not productive or other stores are not productive, you will not see them >> i have to think ahead >> you have to think ahead, and mo spending more of your time, you will be there, spend more there. >> we'll talk more about this in a bit. let's check on the markets this is a shortened trading day. markets close at 1:00 p.m. eastern time today we've been watching, so far the futures are in the green joining us now is christina hooper, global strategist at invetco and ed stringham joins us also. thank you for being here ed, let's start with you

let's get a sense for how consumers are feeling these days and what that means for the economy and the broader picture. >> one of the most interesting things is the tax cut. on the corporate front, if there's big corporate tax cuts, that will be very big for the economy. i think that american corporations are going to be able to invest more. that will be good for consumers. that's also good for workers good all around. that's what makes me optimistic. overall, a lot of people asking me will it affect the economy much really my big criticism of the tax bill is that it doesn't go far enough in terms of the end user, the tax bill will not change much. so i have mixed feelings on how that will be affecting the economy. >> let's talk about how it is or isn't affecting the markets. we're not sure it will get passed it has to pass the senate, go through conference

and pass both houses the markets at this point are factoring in what percentage chance that it gets passed nfrm >> the markets have come to the conclusion that it will be passed that worries me. what we've seen is lofty valuations we saw that articulated in the fomc minutes released the other day. i would argue it's largely priced in. that's what we heard from tresh freshry secretary mnuchin last month. wh what. >> what do you think the drop is >> i could see a 10% drop. >> that's baked in already >> that's maybe a worst case scenario what is the timing 2017 event first quarter 2018 if there's a honeymoon and we're still in it -- >> this could be a death by a thousand cuts. we're in the midst of the

sausage factory. we will be seeing this legislation evolve we'll get news flow that suggests chances are brighter or dimmer, depending upon the day or negotiations. we could see a market that gets taken down on negative news. if we get negative news flow, stocks pushed down and come under pressure as a welt that's a worst case scenario i would expect to see some tax bill passed. it may look quite different than what we're seeing now in terms of either the house version or the senate version what is critical is to maintain the 20% corporate tax rate and immediate expensing equipment. >> if 20% backs iecomes 23%, 24e that change your perspective >> it's still good but it is optimal if it's 20%. those impact the stock market and valuations

>> ed? >> 19%, 18%. if it starts going up to 23% -- we might as well give up now we need simple lower taxes >> there has been speculation that if the state and local tax deductions go away, it will be a p problem in places like oregon, california, new jersey, new york, connecticut. what do you see about states jumping to this position. >> i'm crying in my coffee because my taxes are going up. >> let's just talk about what it means from an economic perspective for those dates. >> it's basically shifting taxes around the corporate taxes part is good the problem that i have is that it's not much of a tax decrease. when you see that, you say we'll increase taxes on certain states, decrease taxes on certain states that's not something we should be getting excited about the corporate tax issue is good. we should be lowering taxes.

we have internationally way too high taxes compared to all other corporations in terms of the average person, some up, some down >> the reason you're not seeing a big net decline in taxes overall, i guess, is because the senate rules prohibit it you have to find pay forces and getting rid of state and local taxes is one of the pay forces >> this whole revenue neutral thing -- >> this is not revenue neutral >> i know, but -- >> even -- it's 1$150 billion o tax cuts i think that's pretty measly at the end of the day the government is taking in twice as much revenue as they were ten years ago to say we'll decrease is by 150 billion is not much. >> annually. >> right >> over ten years, then the numbers add up it's not clear it pays for itself >> it's so small, it's 1% of gdp. the government has been

increasing spending so much. we're talking about a trillion dollars more than ten years ago. now we're saying we'll decrease it a bit it's so small. >> there's no conversation about infrastructure spending on the spending side and no conversation about entitlement reform on the other end. >> that also is a huge issue >> i think we have a spending problem. you can't look at one side of the equation government has been spending more and more dollars in the economy. the more we do that. >> the less we see corporations invest, individuals going to the shopping malls we're talking about and that's really what we need to be concerned about >> at the end of the day, there's a malaise in the economy and i almost think it's i impossible to claim a full malaise, but when you think about the bifurcation and the extent that there's problems with this economy, it's hard to argue at that point in the ball

game that it's a function of the government spending too much money. >> i'm not saying we're in a terrible situation but we need to be going more in the direction of the promises we were given just a year ago we'll see meaningful tax reform. that will make the economy strong yeah things are good. things are much better than a year, ten years ago, five years ago. i think at the end of the day it's slightly underwhelming. we need to be going more in the direction of the promises we were given >> i would argue it's about more bang for your buck >> cbo does a lot of great research about what has the most impact in terms of multiplier effects. the multiplier effects that are most powerful are infrastructure spending, tax cuts to lower income americans, and this tax bill has a lot of elements in it that don't have high multiplier effects, particularly the estate tax repeal there are ways to massage this,

make it a more impactful tax bill >> i'm sorry, i reject this whole multiplier model that you take a dollar out of the economy, that's bad. give it back to the individuals, that the okay. it doesn't really matter where it is. >> you don't think it matders which type of individual you give it to we'll have that monday spent depends on the person, it will be spent on a different way. but the idea that the government needs to be micro managing we'll spend it on roads, that's more valuable than general motors or tesla spending i reject that whole -- it's an outdated mindset >> but hold on every economic model always suggested if you build a road or airport, the multiplier--or-dosh do it this way if you're making $35,000 a year, and i'm giving you an extra $500 or $5,000 or if you're making 0 $10 million a year, you don't

think -- i can guarantee you the $5,000 gets spent from the $5,000 gets spent from the fellow making $35,000. if you're making $10 million, it's hard to see what you're going to do. >> i will reject the whole every economic model assumption. that's common among some economists, but tons of economists reject this mindset give it to a corporation, they'll invest it. give it to the yacht person that you will talk about. people will spend that money it's not disappearing. >> infrastructure spending is the most impactful you could argue that based on research it's not just the short-term impact, but you're also creating capex. think about the works progress administration in the 1930s. we built an awful lot, including laguardia airport, the high school my mom taught in were built by the wpa, it was not

just putting people to work and stimulating the economy for the short-term, these were infrastructure elements used for decades since. that's something that has not been talked about, but critical. >> i do think it's bipartisan, both sides would say you need more infrastructure spending president trump said that himself. >> i will have to just beg to differ on this part. why are we so concerned about roads when there are so many other things in the economy that matter investments in commuters, investment in new technology -- >> that's been included in infrastructure spending. >> i'm talking about private investment rather than having that money go through this big public works sector. it's just a different approach i say put that money into the private sector, give it back to the consumer give it back to the worker you want to see a huge stimulus? let people keep their money, spend their money, invest their money. that will be seeing productive increases in the economy

>> however, you can take a horse to water but you can't force it to drink you have to create a tax structure that encourages companies to take that money and use it for investment purposes >> thank you very much for coming in today. good to see both of you. >> we will continue this debate, i promise you that coming up, we will tell you how much exercise it will take to burn off that thanksgiving meal there's some new data about the most taboo topics at the dinner table. i wanted to know what everybody was talking about at the dinner table last night first here's a look at the national weather forecast. >> good morning to you going into the holiday, we had ideal travel conditions, coming out of it looks to be just as good florida had a bit of rainfall yesterday. just some clouds remaining nothing causing travel concerns. today, cold chilly morning in the northeast. bright sunshine in the afternoon. 50 degrees in boston and new york d.c. at 54 yesterday we had record warmth

in l.a., phoenix, due stucson, warmest thanksgiving we've had, and that warmth continues into the weekend. 60s in new mexico, 70s in texas. gusty winds in the great lakes on saturday. shower activity in northern new england on saturday, sunday, that cold front goes through a bit of lake-effect snow. i'm searching for something bad. this looks like a fantastic forecast going through today and your extended holiday weekend. more "squawk box" when we return [vo] when it comes to investing,

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across our entire network, to more companies, in more locations, than at&t. we do business where you do business. ♪ ♪ welcome back we told you on wednesday about a poll that found the majority of americans were not looking forward to political conversations around the thanksgiving table another new poll found that 1 in 3 adults will avoid talking politics with friends and family over the holidays. an opinion poll found that people would rather talk about religion, family gossip or their personal finances than start talking politics trump voed women were more likely to avoid politics than men, and baby boomers more likely than millennials. did you talk politics around the

table? >> no we had a harvey weinstein conversation >> that's interesting. >> we had some conversations around the sexual assault allegations from lots of people. >> we talked about that, too definitely topical >> but no politics >> no politics. >> i don't think anybody was avoiding it. didn't rise to the occasion. talked about bars. >> not as much as last year. last year it was all about politics not this year. >> in the middle of an election, you can understand it. >> if you plan on taking a leisurely stroll to burn off your thanksgiving meal, think again. according to the calorie control council, don't even look let's ask everybody. how many -- do you know? >> i saw amazing number >> 3,000 calories. the average person is consuming 3,000 calories on thanksgiving so a 180-pound adult would have to walk for nine hours to burn off that one meal.

if you pick up the pace and run, about five hours or 4 1/2 hours if you were jumping rope >> it seems like the marathon should be held after thanksgiving, not before thanksgiving >> if you were to do an hour once a day on top of whatever you were doing for the next nine days, do you think that's the same -- >> no, you're still eating >> still eating. >> yeah. >> stop eating that's the cause for that. >> there needs to be a lot of exercise done. >> explains the january 1st new year's resolutions >> do you know there are gyms open yesterday before a thanksgiving lunch or dinner and people go, because they say the hour after you work out, you can consume -- >> burn more >> you can consume more calories and burn more. >> that makes sense. >> did they go back to the gym after they ate >> i don't know if they were still open all you folks outthere shopping today, look out, here's a creepy story

retailers are increasingly using facial recognition to collect data about shoppers shopping in their stores, that's according to mark lund from an i.t. company. he said his company works with retailers on facial recognition that 5:tracts customers accounts, age, with goals to getting to know them better. lund said that customer identities are kept anonymous to keep privacy, but they know who you are even if they're not sharing that information >> what do you know about this >> i've heard about it i heard what companies are doing is getting your information when you walk in you will get an e-mail when you walk out you bought denim jeans last time >> that's so creepy. >> it is >> i guess amazon already knows and google knows about these things every time you walk out in public, you are getting this >> think about alexa

every time you tell alexa something -- >> i tell alexa nothing. nothing. nothing. privacy right out the window when we come back, retail round up we will be talking to matt shea about the make or break season for retailers. and we'll get a live update from one of the busiest target stores in the united states as black friday kicks into high gear right now a look at wednesday's s&p zwinners and losers

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♪ welcome back you're watching "squawk box" live from the nasdaq market site in times square. ♪ good morning welcome back we've been watching the u.s. equity futures this morning. after a mixed day for markets on wednesday, you can see things are in the green now dow futures indicated to open up by p 31 points. s&p futures opening up by about 4 points nasdaq indicated up by about 7 points this morning. it's just a half day of trading today. markets close at 1:00 p.m. eastern time. shares of rovio fell sharply yesterday overseas the angry birds maker missed

estimates for quarterly sales and profit the stock down by 20%. let the holiday shopping frenzy begin it's a crucial time for retailers. want to bring in matt shay good morning to you. >> hi. happy thanksgiving >> what have you bought thus far? have you done mall shopping? dana has already been around town >> i heard dana giving you advice that you should shop today and again on cybermonday i think it's going to be a great weekend. the numbers are positive the crowds are out it's been a few years since we had a solid holiday season so it feels good all the numbers we're getting in, all the people we're talking to are giving us positive reports, which makes sense given where we are with the economy, the health of the consumers, and

the fact there are not external man made -- there's no fiscal cliff. no government shutdown no contentious presidential election, no brexit. the weather is good. inventories are in the right place. we're looking for a big weekend. >> is any money being made this weekend? are we just pulling money forward? >> you know, i think money is being made this is the super bowl, it's the stanley cup, the nba finals rolled into one. people start planning for that retailers are working on this with suppliers back to the beginning of this year there are promotions but also planned promotions and some things we've already seen this morning, i was getting information last night, that some of the sales that the prices are good, but things are not being discounted the way they were maybe a year ago people are holding the prices. and i think that's good for margins. that's a good signal for the way we go into the season. we have a longer selling season. we have 31 days. we'll have four full saturdays

in december. all of those things will contribute to really big numbers. >> what's the take on weather now? oftentimes it needs to get cold before people start buying coats. do you have a view >> you don't want to blame the weather when it's warm so it's hard to take credit for it when it's cold. i think the psychology of cooler weather makes a difference in terms of clearing the inventory. there's no question if you were watching the parade yesterday in new york, it was a nice, cold day. but people were out. you know in that environment that everybody is selling coats and hats and boots, scarves, gloves, things that three years ago, two years ago when it was 7 0 on thanksgiving day, people did not buy those items. that inventory is getting cleared out. >> matt, given that it seems like fewer stores are open on thanksgiving day last year, what do you think the impact is on thanksgiving day weekend this year >> i guess going back to

andrew's question about whether the sales are pulling things forward or whether we're just shifting around the spending the spending will grow this year in absolute terms. our forecast is growth of 3.6 to 4% everything we've seen suggests we'll be on the high side of the range. people are starting shopping earlier. people are talking about black november instead of black friday so, you know, the sales -- >> meaning profitabilities starts for the retailers in november, not thanksgiving day >> i think some or both of that. the profitabilities start earlier and sales start sooner so people are starting their black friday sales and deals much earlier in november that's got an impact for the shopping days. thanksgiving is a big day. 32 million shopped on thanksgiving day the biggest day of the weekend will be today, 115 million

>> 115 million people out in shopping malls or online shopping >> that is both. shopping one way or the other. people will be out and actively shopping so, these numbers, 2011 was a big year, it was over 4% 2014 was over 4% it's been three years. i think we could easily see numbers like that again this year because the consumers are feeling good, the market is high, unemployment has not been this low in 20 years there's some positive signs. your last couple guests were talking about the tax reform bill we're optimistic that will get done before the end of this year we'll be back up on the hill next week when congress returns to try to get that through the senate and i think that sends a positive signal for consumers as well in terms of the psyche. >> talking about the tax bill, when you think about the state and local deduction piece. what do you think will happen in places like new york and california when it comes to the

retail business? it's one thing for corporations to pay less in taxes, but if everybody is going home and in some cases paying more, how will that affect retail >> there's a lot we don't know yet in terms of what the final product will look like between the house and senate versions. presumably this will go to a koc conference committee in early december, they'll work some of these things out the house and senate took different per spktive spectivese state and local issue. we don't know which tax payers will be affected in which ways yet. it's premature to make pronouncements on what that will do ultimately. the positive part of this -- >> has your organization come out in support of one view or the other? >> we have not on the state and local. our view has been if we can get the corporate rate down to 20% to make us much more competitive

with the rest of the world, we're close to 40%, retailers would like to see the rate go down as close as they can. for those 3.6 million retailers in the country, 95% are small biz bes or pass-through entities, getting that pass-think rate down to 25% or lower is very important. >> beats the v.a.t that was going to be your nightmare. >> you said it for me. that was our focus earlier this year, let's not turn this into a consumption tax bill now that we're focused on how do this in terms of corporate tax and the pass-through rates, let's focus on those things. if we get those done right and clean up other parts of the tax code, that's a positive. >> we were talking about the impact the state and local tax deductions could have on places like new york, new jersey, california, oregon, illinois those are big states for retailers. do you worry folks there will have less to spend

>> right now we believe the benefits of the changes to the tax rates will be positive enough >> it's not the v.a.t. >> and it's not the va on balance this will work out very, very well. if there is some limit -- if it ends up at $10,000 or a reasonable number like that, that will take care of lots of people they'll be sensitive to that >> that's in the house, not in the senate, you hope the house bill reigns when it comes to that >> we haven't taken a position on it, but they'll be sensitive to the consumers >> matt, great to see you. happ happy thanksgiving >> have a great day. when we come back a live report from one of the busy eftd target stores in america and airline rewards made simple good luck with that. we'll talk to a senior writer from the points guy about recent changes in the loyalty program, and what i need to know to make

the most from your rewards miles. and looking for a last-minute travel deal, hotel tonight may be the answer. the ceo joins us live from the west coast stay tuned, you're watching "squawk box" on cnbc well, the national debt is $20 trillion. as we keep adding to it, guess who pays the bill? him. and her. and her. congress, we should grow the economy. not the debt. ♪

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target is betting big on revamped stores and lower prices, including some of the best deals for iphone 8 and other products morgan brennan is live at a target in jersey city, this is one of the largest stores. morgan, good morning >> good morning. i hope you had a great thanksgiving after closing overnight, this store in jersey city just reopened a short while ago at 6:00 a.m it's been so far steady stream of people coming through the doors. he would caught up with shoppers to see why they're here so early in store rather than shopping from home online >> a lot of the door buster deals you can't buy online >> sometimes it's more fun if you do it in person. if you just hang out, you know,

actually that's one of the first times that we got in a line like that in the cold we were like, you know, screw it >> there's no deals, they're just hard to find. >> that last shopper is referring to the apple iphone x, which is not marked down here, and some big ticket items, especially electronics, the best buying opportunities are in store. also with big box rival market walmart. look at this this is the 55 inch 4k ultra hd westinghouse television. a smart tv this was marked down to 250 bucks last night this store has sold out on these, this and a dozen other tvs has been discounted. walmart says they have been popular. they have been among the most popular items when the store opened last night from 6:00 a.m. to midnight. another example, apple ix pipadn

watches, the nintendo switch, and these big plush teddy bears, priced at $10, they were selling 600 per minute when the doors first opened they're out of stock here, otherwise i would be showing you them back over to you >> too late already. morgan, thank you. coming up, if you are having trouble getting mileage out of your airline rewards program, you are not alone. more than half of americans are confused by the loyalty programs we'll talk to a senior writer at i e points guy promise, we'll all learn a lot. back in a moment

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>> welcome back. it's getting harder and harder to travel in comfort, and seemingly, joining us right now to talk travel tips julian, the senior writer at the points guy, a website i have to admit i'm happy to admit that i go to religiously. this is how i figure out what to do here's the biggest problem it used to be you could use your miles to upgrade, meaning you would pay the base fee for the economy and then you would move up that seems like it's unavailable. is that right? >> yeah, it's harder and harder because the airlines obviously are doing very well. they've had some problems with

profitability. they don't want to give up those seats. they can monotize them you're better off just using your miles and points to just directly redeem for the seats. >> what airline is best bang for the buck >> well -- >> in terms of miles >> which miles are the most available. they could be the easiest to use later, and i'm going to get the most for them. >> we always at the points guy, we recommend flexibility points, that means not delta not american rather, chase ultimate rewards or american express membership you can then convert those points into delta miles. >> i fly unite all the time, and i'm not getting treated very well as somebody who shows up and flies on those all the time. i never use my miles for anything i want the points there so they -- >> fair enough no matter what you are flying, you should always collect the miles. always collect the points. it's fwree really the way most people are getting their miles nowadays, credit cards --

>> very clear that you want us taking the miles off of the ame card, and you don't want us going to amex's website and trying to use the miles. >> you are get the best miles transferring them. don't transfer them until you know you have awards space >> they say that if you are going to transfer to their airline, it could take 30 days to transfer. you have teen that >> at the points guy.com we have a list of how long it actually takes to transfer your points in most cases from amex and from chase. in most cases. >> the big issue -- >> what's the -- >> there are a couple of kpepgzs. there's probably not anything you'll be dealing with like middle eastern paris, things like that. >> if you are trying to get to united or dealt yarks it's pretty much -- >> when is the easiest upgrade >> definitely not during the holidays the holidays is when they're going to obviously be at 100% capacity you want to look for off travel days if can you travel in the offseason. >> you can't really buy points these days to actually get to the next level i'm at 40,000 on united.

i need to get to 50,000 by the end of the year. >> you are coming back here. get anything done? >> we're there 29 hours. we have a lovely time. >> okay. great to see you thank you. >> thank you happy thanksgiving >> you too >> when we come back, we'll be checking in on black friday sales around the country and get a live report from one of the busiest llinhemas t united states stick around "squawk box" will be right back. small businesses show their love to you. with some friendly advice, a genuine smile and a warm welcome they make your town... well, your town. that's why american express is proud to be the founding partner of small business saturday.

a day where you get to return that love, because shopping small makes a big difference. so, tomorrow get up, get out, and shop small. directv has been rated number one in customer satisfaction over cable for 17 years running. but some people still like cable. just like some people like wet grocery bags. getting a bad haircut. overcrowded trains. turnstiles that don't turn. and spilling coffee on themselves. but for everyone else, there's directv. for #1 rated customer satisfaction over cable, switch to directv. and this weekend only get a $200 reward card call 1-800-directv

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>> happening now retailers opening their doors across the country the official start to the holiday season is underway we have live reports from stores and from the auto dealers straight ahead it's a shortened trading session on wall street today the market is pointing to a higher open. we'll get you set up for the day ahead, which, by the way, ends at 1:00 p.m. a black friday tweet fail. we will tell you what mcdonald's is saying oops this morning. it is friday, november 24th. black friday, 2017 the second hour of "squawk box" begins right now ♪ >> live from the beating heart of business, new york city this is "squawk box." >> good morning. welcome back to "squawk box" here on cnbc we're just deciding there's no fun in paying full price for anything we will talk about that in just a minute >> except for you.

>> not for me. no fun in paying full price for me we're in times square. a day after thanksgiving happy thrngs, everybody. joe is maybe sleeping off some of the turkey from yesterday it is black friday we have two very special guests to help us talk through the shopping media chelsea is here. jen is ling out. coo of jay rogers. we'll have more from them in just a bit >> 2.347 big story we'll be watching all

day is retail and black friday you're looking at a live shot of the mall of america. we should tell you, the doors opened at cold front a.m. wrrch a little bit of foot traffic dana tells us more about the traffic sle awe sat macy's in times square >> harrold's square. crazy town >> absolutely busy i went from the eighth floor down i was at lord and taylor urban outfitters you name it. definitely people looking for something to do after they had their turkey, and they wanted to go shopping. >> are we talking the place is being stuffed elbow to elbow situation or what? >> it's always stuffed on the main floor when you go up top, it's not as crowded, but still more people there this year tlan what i saw last year. i was there at the exact same time >> i know you had a full house with all your relatives. does that mean you were out at the stores too >> of course i'm a retailer just like dana. i have been out every year for the past 50 years, you know? i agree with dana that some of the big stores were really, really crowded

i don't think we saw as many people out last night across the nation perhaps as we did last year >> really? >> i'm now wondering what the day is going to look like. >> this was my question earlier. i see all the sales on-line. i kind of want to jump in right now, but then i think is this sale going to get better on monday >> i'm a devoted follower of the show, so i heard your kplents on that earlier >> what do you say >> i say the deals have been great since the 1st of november, and they're great today, and i doubt if they're really going to be any better on monday on average. there may be something you wish you had bought >> is the lex trongs stuff going to get better on monday? cyber monday, i always associate with electronic goods. >> no. they won't be better on monday

>> i love the conversation you are having about the indicatedance and the timing i agree. i think last night was a really big night for the big box players. that's when the door busters kick off today is still actually expected to be the busiest day of the year for retail. we have 120 million foels in the country. the mall of america was, again, closed on thanksgiving day those doors just opened. i know you showed the live shot. wal-mart and target kicked off their door busters at 6:00 p.m. last night shoppers lining up around the country. it's an annual tradition for many this year wal-mart did not hand

out wrist bands. they said that they bought deeper inventory than in years past they didn't think they would need to, and they would be able to satisfy shoppers demands. here's at the woodbridge mall, it just reopened and took a little bit of a break overnight. he start to talk to some shoppers to see what they're after today. >> there are bill yonds of data points on-line so far best buy is the number one retailer that's being searched that was the same case last year it's followed by wal-mart,ing kohl's, and then target in that order. thanksgiving, jan was talking about how strong on-line sales may be today thanksgiving is also growing in importance adobe says that on-line sales were up 17% year-over-year, and that was only until 5:00 p.m.

yesterday. if you guys want the deals, you better hop on and take a look because i don't know what et cetera going to be left when it comes to siesh monday deals. andrew, becky, back to you >> we're going to send you our shopping list to make sure we get in the early edge at some of these things >> i'll do it. i'll do it >> thanks, court see you in just a little bit meantime, let's bring in our special retail guest this morning. january rogers nifen dana telsey, the founder and ceo of the advisory group. all the way arnold for boept of you guys autowe're going through a dry spell in termds of -- >> in terms of --

>> traffic it's 40% of holiday sales. it's typically done in the ten days before christmas. yes, to get a rush now, but a lot of this is buy for yourself rather than buying for others. you're going to buy for others as you get closer to thetime period today what's new and different is buy on-line and pick up in store. >> we haven't had any product trends lo and behold, denim is starting to perk up we're getting everyone talking about improved denim sales you have a new apple phone out there. is that going to take some dollars from something else? >> it's about value, and it's about experience give them a value. you give them an experience. they will come i think that that's what retailers need to do

>> jan, let's get down to the bottom line, though. if i feel like i'm getting great value, as i as a consumer and if i'm getting a great bargain, is the store going to be able to make money >> the stores are going to do fine 40% is on the new 30% off. i'm want concerned about that. my real concern is how much brick and mortar business do we really do, right everything that moves on-line costs me more than i sell out of the store. that's always a problem. >> you are k5078 and shop. we'll do fine. >> what do you think the margin is on the stuff that takes place this weekend >> i don't think the marnlin is significantly different than what you get for the rest of the selling season

they plan all of this into the business if they make their sales numbers, they'll do fine on the margin side. that's not the issue the issue is exactly what dana said as we pass this day. we've had a fabulous run-up to the first degree griez e degrees, right >> we're talking about you like we, like you were part of the retailers. >> you think 4.2% is better than what the -- >> it's better than what anybody thinks >> 2.4% increase this shopping season -- >> i think it can be better than that i don't think it's i 5 can we get to a 4.5 or something like that? it feels better because i have nor products that people want, and inventory levels are lean. as all these retailers have reported, they have more ability to buy in season >> is it a function of just better inventory

is it a function of better economy? what about the argument that had been made for the last two or three years, which is that people just don't -- nicki made this point people don't care about clothes the way they used to >> that's why they're buying other things . >> experiences >> do you this this is a cyclical things or a forever thipg? >> overall with apparel, nothing is forever, but women used to buy clothing for work, weekend, gym, and party today with more casual society, they're buying clothes for party and then workweek, and the gym is all getting grated. >> how much are a pair of chinos >> that tells you the whole trend has been discount, discount, discount it's not all input prices. it's been them in the market and

tsar in the market and old navy. it's everybody >> we would talk about zara's as if it's god's gift to the universe, and then haired the past year or two, they've been -- >> they've been up digital every double digit >> the concept same store sales? >> they've been doing terrific they just put one of their younger concepts down in soho. they're diagnose a pop-up for a little bit if zara home would come to the u.s., that would be a hit.

>> what is everybody else? >> 20 weeks if f they're lucky >> they product injoe vegas, speed, and data. that's what every retailer -- that is the success metrics of what we need today >> best apparel retailer in the world. >> we'll continue this conversation >> we will a couple of corporate stories to tell you about this morning. the big one, if you work there, potentially my apologize they're planning a very sizable job cut. generic drug maker employees have 6,900 workers in az rail. according to the financial website, cal clis, they're counting 20 periods to 25% that's going to be business news there. >> we're also hearing that there will be cuts here in the united states as well so,000 around the world. >> consumers are buying more of the good stuff these days. >> however, those figures did

come in slightly below analyst estimates. also, cbs and satellite tv provider dish network have resolved their contractdispute subscribers had been without cbs while they tried to reach a new carriage agreement the blackout lasted for three days and affected customers in 26 states. that fight is now over in trading it resumes on wall street we want to talk markets right now. joining us right now is rich steinberg, the president chief investment officer at -- we're talking retail, retail, retail i imagine volume will be low toted on the markets, but given that we're up sort of on this half day, what are you thinking about this morning >> i'm thinking about really starting to set ourselves up for 2018 outlook this is a time where investors need to be reflective both on the institutional side of the retail side. a lot of this quiet time in the market is really spent on looking at what next year looks likes and where the rotations may happen

>> so answer your own question then, what does next year look like >> well, the third quarter was pretty decent. you had 74% up side surprises on earnings and about of 6% up side on revenues. next year the street is at 146 in earnings for the s&p, which is up is 1% on 5% revenue growth i'm a little bit disconnected from where wall street stlat gi strategists are on this the target i'm at 2700 because i don't see us getting a lot of multiple expansion unless a tax deal comes through. >> that mean you're getting e betting against a tax deal coming through >> i'm not betting greet e against a tax deal if the full tax deal comes in, it could add another $10 in earnings and then $18 on $1 00

>> there's some things in there that can be traded there's no reason why hedge fund managers shut get 15 percent tax rate there's a quirky piece in the senate piece on fifo accounting. i think there will be some trading that will go on. it could be healthy rotation it's a small and mid-cap last year which have lagged their big brother. >> what does that mean the steinberg portfolio and steinberg families doing with its money? >> so the -- you know, the indexes this year have had a huge run, but there's such a concentration in those returns they've been the have's and have-not's this year i think going into next year we would overweight small and mid-cap, start to retail more money international. even with the stronger dollar i think it may make sense. we'll probably cut back some technology and look to

industrials. we haven't really been talking at all about an infrastructure deal if a tax deal gets done, we may start to see that come into the calculus >> happy thanksgiving. thanks for joining us this morning. >> you too >> good to he sue uys. >> when we come back this morning, will more shoppersbe hitting their phones necessitated of the malls this holiday season we'll talk to an analyst about retails, amazon factor after this break later, forget the malls. some shoppers might be visiting car lots too auto dealers are expecting big blags wlak friday sales. live to a chevy dealership in the next hour. let me guess, phil is there. that's what he told us when he was at the airport on wednesday. stick around, everybody. yoare tcngu wahi squawk bobs here on cnbc

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advantages over amazon i think the foot print of the brick and mortar retail is very much an advantage. you know, there are things that with even expedited shipping shoppers can't achieve on-line, and so i think being able to try and experience and discover products in stores i think are really important for retailers that said, i think i object vesting in innovation is critical think one of the big drivers of their growth has been that year-over-year-over-year they just test and learn and test and sort of fail quickly, lerk quick learn quickly. >> we haven't talked about whole foods. there was a view that the world changed the second that whole foods transaction took place, and that somehow amazon was going to truly leverage the whole foods in store platform in some way much more meaningfully beyond the food. do you see that happening? >> you know, i think it's still early for that relationship. i mean, i think that they're certainly looking to apply the fly wheel that they have one of the things amazon has

done a really nice job of as they've grown category by category is offer a very broad assortment, use that scale to drive down price, and then focus relentlessly on the customer experience i think that the very first moves that they made with whole foods, i think, applies to that fly wheel. they looked across the assortment and said what do customers really care about, and they lowered prices on those items. now, how they use that store footprint, you know, they tested a few things, is still to be seen i think absolutely they're looking to find ways to apply what they've done historically >> what do you think the kohl's announcement means what do you think kohl's and amazon testing the returnidevic returns goes next? >> i think the creativity of selling a device and also using the stores to accept returns you know, i think that these stores are looking for ways to bring traffic into the store, looking for ways to bring customers into the store i think for a retailer like kohl's, you know, both offering products that have really strong consumer demand, but creatively

thinking about the way that a customer who is shopping at another retailer might actually still engage with them to come in and pick up sales along the way when they're in the store. >> i keep saying they should buy clothes. i will ask you did they need more boxes than the 400 they just picked up with whole foods? >> you know, i think that they're testing what a store means for them both having things like whole foods and other elections. i think we're seeing more broadly in on-line retail that retailers do look for opportunities to engage customers in store we've seen that with the smaller on-line start-ups. companies like orby parker that got to scale and then actually started to have stores binobos and having a retail foot flint print as well. i think there's a lot to be said in retailers engaging customers in the is n store -- >> could they actually create lots of relationships like kohl's and that becomes sort of its own network? >> it's a great question

you know, i think that who they're going to acquire is sort of a very open question. you know, what i will say is about amazon is when they decide to do something, they move fast and they move on that. i think that they have had a lot of opportunities to partner with retailers. i think retailers are looking for ways to partner with them. absent an acquisition, i this i this they'll still have a lot of run room to kind of leverage the retail footprints that are out there. >> happy thanksgiving. we have well wishers who are waving behind you. it's great to he see you. appreciate it. >> mcdolkd's black friday tweet fail the fast food chain had an oops moment of sorts. twitter, loving it you know, they love to hate. they love to hate. the trolls that story next as we head to a break. check out the futures right now. squawk returns in a montme and a gentle wave-like motion. liberate your spine.

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>> when we return, shopping small. small businesses getting ready for their own version of black friday we're going to check in on main street next. later, how one start-up is capitalizing on last minute travellers we're going to talk to the ceo of hotel tonight tell you how to get a hotel room right after the break. back in a moment november is epilepsy awareness month.

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>> we're live in times square. among the -- here's what's going on a half day trading down on wall street with the markets closing at 1:00 p.m. eastern time. we have a shortened last trading session in 2017 since christmas eve falls on a sunday this year. this is your last chance to work half day if that's what you want to do. neither the owner or trump organization would comment or prompt the decision to end the pact, but in looking at the news, you know that they've been struggling in having to take their prices down to get people in those hotels. also, a newly legal business getting on black friday bark bargains more than 40 marijuana dispensaries in the las vegas area offering discounts.

today is the first black friday since legal sales recreational marijuana began in nevada. >> is -- is there a freshness issue? can you keep them -- >> can the edibles, can you go all in for a big package now and keep them for the rest of the year i don't know enough about that situation. >> if you put chocolate in your freezer, the kids will get it. bad idea >> check this out. a tweet from mcdonald's verified account going viral, but not necessarily because of why you might think. the fast food chain tweeting black friday, need copy and link seems like whoever runs mcdonald's twitter page forgot to include the actual content of the tweet before blasting it out. that hasn't stopped the popularity on twitter. it's been retweeted nearly 7,000 times and liked 12,000 times the tweet has been up for just

six hours. >> also, small business owners are getting ready for their own version of black friday, which takes place tomorrow sarah strohman has had the holidays on her mind since june. she's participating in her first ever small business saturday at the etsy sellers marketplace in block lynn she makes handmade stationery and says her sales can increase by 50% around the holiday season even though the competition is fierce with big box competitors. >> it's completely different to buy something from somebody who can tell you who made it and tell you about it. >> the american express sponsored holiday is it in its eighth year and has seen grassroots support for local businesses increase in a big way. last year some 112 million customers reported shopping at independently owned businesses on small business saturday according to amex. that's up from 95 million a year

prior. spending more than $15 billion this year some 7,000 communities nation booid are gearing up to participate in the day according to data from amex and the national federation of independent business, 61% of consumers said they are aware of small business saturday, and 82% plan to either shop small or dine small on that day >> i guess this is a really important time how long has this been -- >> this is its eighth year >> i've been reporting on it for five years or so it's gotten bigger and bigger. >> what's interesting in the past, consumers have said after the fact they're willing to spend a little bit more money when they shop at local retailers, which makes sense >> because of the loyalty factor, and you want your own community to be doing well >> we featured a seller earlier today. his bagsz were about $200. they're handmade leather things he makes himself i can imagine getting something like that from my mom. it's cool to see who made it

>> you'll be happy to know my right, your left -- jan nifen is -- this is your site. >> i wouldn't say constantly, but i do have a snap on my phone. if you get trapped in an airport, it works. >> is this a big night for you >> turns out when hotels have empty rooms they use hotel tonight to fill them up. when there's a lot of business travel today, there's really great deals. the use case is when you are going into the city or if you are looking for a weekend get-away, you don't have plans, use hoelgs tonight we're there when there's an emergency, but it's really we work great when you want to have something fun and have a spontaneous night to really make your weekend great

>> they're saying i'm going to get a hotel room in the city tonight because it's going to be a fun thing to do, and how many people like jan and others who stwul have a use case for it because it's a true need not a discretionary spend, if you will >> you know, the use case i just described is where we started. when we started with tonight only we've expanded it to a week in advance and more recently just a couple of months ago we expanded up to 100 days, a couple of months in advance. we saw people started to use it for last minute, and for everything they preferred using hotel tonight, our hotel partners wanted to work more with us, and right now we're the app for everything we're the alternative to expedia and priceline. we can save time you can save money by using hotel tonight. >> terms of large, how much do they keep and how much do you keep >> we keep a similar amount to the other on-line travel

agencies we focus on incremental revenue, and that creates really strong and positive relationships with our hotels we fill rooms that would otherwise go empty not competing for their loyal customers like some of other guys do. >> is there a certain type of hotel that is more attractive for you and your audience relative to other types in terms of either four or five star relative to others are there brands that are with you that are not on others >> the sweet spot for us are the great boutique independent hotels new york has a lot of them it's really the trend in hotel right now is to open hotels and run hotels that have really fantastic local presence where a local would want to hang out, where you don't feel like a tourist when you're staying there. >> there's a new site out that sells rooms by the hour.

>> maybe it's called -- >> i don't want to know about this one okay >> i don't -- i'm not convinced that there's a huge market there. i think that there's a couple niche cases where you might need a place to crash for a few hours after a red eye. ultimately, a small market we're focused on the much bigger market of hotels whenever you need them. book way in advance. >> is that the use case for the hourly situation >> i'll let them comment on that >> sam, always gooed to see you. we wish you a happy thanksgiving week tha for waking up this morning thank you for being here >> good to be here when we come back, some shoppers may be taking home more than just shopping bags today. phil lebeau is live at a chevy dealership what's coming up for us? >> it used to be that black friday was primarily for people going to the malls and other

places to do their christmas shopping where they're putting something under the tree how about putting keys under a tree or driving off the lot with your own vehicle foaumptak friday is so iornt r to dealers coming up on "squawk box. my experience with usaa has been excellent.

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>> now one of the businessesiest days of the year, and now auto dealers. this year is expected to be a strong one that could set up the auto industry for potentially robust year-end sales phil lebeau joins us right now he is live at a chevy dealership i don't know, cheffy dealership, o'hare airport, which one wins, phil >> i will take this over o'hare airport because you always get the stressed out traveller when you are doing live shots at the airport. here at the dealership, it's calm before the storm a little bit later on thoed at this dealership in illinois they're expecting pretty big crowds a little later on today, and this has happened over the last ten to 15 years it really has become much more of an important day for the auto dealers. how important? think about this black friday is now considered one of the five busiest days of the year for auto dealers. you see it in the promotion that is they're running in fact, this year it's even

more important because the question becomes will the auto industry be able to top 17 million in sales for 2017. most believe it's going to happen we'll get the november numbers at the end of next week. >> i want to show you the chart for general motors over the last year cadillac sales, they are down, and they are also targeting the end of the year. bottom line is this, guys. so many people think about black friday in terms of going to the store. well, increasingly people are saying, you know what, it's been a good year.

we're going into the dealerships instead. we'll see how busy it is here later on today okay >> thank you for that, phil. great to see you, sir. happy thanksgiving in case you missed this over the holiday, peter thiel wants a chance to bid on gawker.com. yes, that gawker.com you remember the billionaire venture capitalist secretly financed hulk hogan's lawsuit against the site lawsuit that gawker ultimately lost and forced to go out of business now he wants to bid for the dormant site according to papers filed in new york's bankruptcy court. >> revenge comes in many different flavors. >> everything they've ever published, the archives, is still up there and out there

this way you could take it down and get rid of it. >> kind of the ultimate activist investment, think about it >> also, new details on uber's massive data breach. the company said it discussed the breach with potential investor soft bank before it went public with the details on tuesday. unclear, by the way, whether they knew about it before they announced the tender offer in the past two weeks uber said it had to disclose that data breach investigation to that potential investor, even though the information was preliminary and incomplete separately we should note the "wall street journal" reporting that the company's new ceo learned of the breach more than two months before the company disclosed that's going to raise new questions about the culture and whether zara is bringing a new management approach or not where. >> that's probably the most disturbing part. bh we heard about this tuesday or wednesday earlier this week about the first thing.

>> wed need more details what did he know at the time what was the process for going through all of that? >> i'm going to be generous and say let's -- i want to find out the answers to this question >> i'm not trying to throw him under the bus yet, but i'm saying that this definitely is going to make him come up with more disclosures on how that process works. >> 100%. >> we will talk to the ceo who wants to teach you how to build your own computer. yeah, good luck with that with me that is next student. you are watching "squawk box" on cnbc ♪

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♪ ♪ we deliver super-fast internet with speeds of 250 megabits per second across our entire network, to more companies, in more locations, than at&t. we do business where you do business. ♪ ♪ >> i have one question on the dilk tal piece about cyber monday on-line issues. when it comes to december, do you think the sales will get better usually the sales get better and better and better. is that not the case this year >> right after black friday weekend, we're going to go on to a lull it becomes quiet then the city council have urgency.

then you have hanukkah coming earlier because it's december 12th instead of december 24th. >> the other thing we have not talked about is apple. usually you read all these articles they say the apple iphone is going to kill -- they said the apple 10 is going to kill retail because everybody -- instead of spending $1,000 on clothes, they're going to spend $1,000 on this thing >> yeah. that's true. there's no reason to believe that's not going to happen you're buying earbuds. you are buying an apple 10 you are buying all kinds of electronics. yes. electronics are going to take a chunk out of this christmas. >> what about best buy which just had a tough time? it they were doing so well now there are new questions. >> i'm still a fan of best buy i don't know about dana. >> last night i was there. lines out the door frankly, the people are still going in at around 9:00 at night. >> so interesting about their earnings release was they were talking about how part of the reason they were going to be getting hit harder is because of executive compensation they've done very well and hit

all their -- they had to pay their executives i don't have a problem with that >> when your business is so good, you have to pay your executives more. that's not a bad thing >> incentive compensation in 2017 is going up autodid you want amazon to buy kohl's >> are you such a trouble maker. i think amazon should buy kohl's it's a simple reason they have 1,100 of these nice it is 80,000 square foot boxes, and they all almost just lookalike there are almost no two-levels where, they're all sitting by themselves in a parking lot. you can drive through and pick up and you can now cover the whole country. >> then there's the flip side of this, which is why do i need to own it if they're going to dot partnership with me -- >> i need to buy the cow to get the milk

>> you don't have to buy nike to get them on your website to sell the product, right i still think they should own a great brand. i think in the kohl's case they need the boxes now to build them yourselves you are diagnose to buy something. >> they need places to sell stuff out of 400 whole dpoods are not going to do that sort of thing i don't care if it's koh ls l's. other people have speculated on other companies. i think they've got the best box from the point of view of what they would want to do. to also think, though, they have an immediate apparel business that will be a lot bigger than what they have now, and even though kohl's dent have the great brands, they would have a heck of a lot more great brands if amazon owned them >> jeff bezos goes here to jan

when you pursue that >> you know, that's only a 7.5 billion dollar market cap. >> certainly those in and out areas that kohl's has been in, it's an easy in, easy out. it's distribution and fulfillment. >> all right our guest host again will be with us for the rest of the program. we'll talk more about it let's talk about another issue too. this holiday season you can give the experience of creating technology not just consuming it. cano is a creative computing company that's known for computing and coding kits that lets anyone build and write code joining us from london is alex cline. the ceo and founder of canno alex, let's test this. anyone what about me? i'm a complete ludite still using a black beaberry.

i have an iphone 2 how do you teach people like me how to code? >> we start with the basics. we give you a step by step beautifully designed kit and a story book with a single instruction on every page. kids as young as 5 -- yeah, exactly. lego style the original challenge for this product which became the first computer that anyone can make, this challenge came from my middle cousin, niko, who is 6 years old. we were playing around with a little chip set, and he challenged us to create a computer he could build himself as fun and simple as legos we've headline 6-year-olds in london and 45-year-olds in the united states, 81-year-olds in china. i'm sure sophisticated cnbc hosts like yourself could easily build a computer and code it >> flattery will get you everywhere your 5-year-old cousin literally could put that box together?

>> exactly even beyond the simple set and the memory card craft the battery, wire up the speaker it's what young people do with the computer after it's complete that is really remarkable. instead of just swipe and tapping on this, you know, secretive sealed sapphire screen, they're making apps that respond to sound, like this one. i'll demonstrate [ whistling >> they're make minecraft and art work and music over 35 million lines of code so far. it's structured like a game. it's almost like the uncanny union of video gaming and lego, minecraft and gethub in a simple step by step kit for all ages. >> i know best buy is one of the places you can buy this. best buy, target, wal-mart are those the areas? >> exactly i'm also a fan of best buy, like you guys not least because they took us into all of their stores this year we're in every target store with a beautiful end cap. we're at wal-mart as well. there's really something changing, i think, in the world today. you see the skepticism

surrounding the big social media platforms. you see maybe not as many people dropping $1,000 on an iphone this season as in the past people fpt technology that they shape and create and customize themselves the big retailers are coming on board with this simple message make a computer, learn to code, play you know, you have kits like our core computer that sells for just $99 on black friday even kits as simple as this. $29. jew just announced -- i think you raised $28 million what's your end goal are you going to be a privately held company do you plan to ipo do you think somebody might buy the company? for us it's about creating a it training brand the perfect polished one size dpits all device is soon coming

to an end. we want to demystify every aspect of bleeding edge consumer technology you shouldn't be speaking to alexa. you should be able to control her, give her new tricks and skills and personality you shouldn't just be exploring a virtual world with a headset that someone has built for you you should be placing objects in that world our goal is no less than being, you know, the economical computing brand of the twenty-first century the one that combines simple steps, creativity, and play into a system that lets anyone, whether you are 6 years old in london, 70 years old in sierra leon, build radio station says, severer, bitcoin miners, says robots and computers yourself. that's the goal. >> it's been great talking to you. really appreciate it >> thanks very much for having me >> we have a very big hour ahead on "squawk box" this black friday doors open at the mall of america. we're going to take you live to the mega mall and get an update on the crowds and what's gone on there. later, the exceo from jc penney

u n'wa to miss it. squawk returns in just a moment.

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trading day. futures are on the move. we'll get you ready for the market open. >> do you have a reputation for returns? we'll tell you how some stores are tracking the purchases you bring back and what they're doing with that data ♪ it's the most wonderful time of the year ♪ snoo we're going to get an update as well as big retailers around the united states the third hour of "squawk box" begins right now ♪ >> live from the most powerful city in the world, new york. this is "squawk box. >> good morning, everybody welcome back to "squawk box" here on cnbc we are live from the nasdaq market site in times square. i'm becky quick along with andrew ross sorkin joe is out today our guest host this morning, though, are retail experts

dana and jan we've been talking all about retail we're going to continue that through the morning. in the meantime, though, take a look at the futures this morning. we are looking at green arrows in fact, we've been pucking up ground dow futures are indicated up close to 60 points above fair value. s&p futures are up by five the nasdaq up by 8.5 this is on a week where the s&p 50000 and the dow are on track to post their best week in about five weeks nasdaq closed at another high back on wednesday. we'll keep an eye on all of this as we get closer to the opening bell take a look, though, at what else has been happening around the globe. next up you're going to see that the european markets have also been picking up some ground. at least most of them have the dax now up by 1% the cac is up by, oh, two-thirds of a percentage point. the ftse has now turpd positine positive just barely. stocks in italy and spain are higher as well >> let's get you through corporate news as well lyft has raised $500 million in its latest round of funding. that's according to a share

authorization filing the funding round was led by alphabet's capital g the ride-hailing company at $11.5 billion. in the big capital raising battle, if you will, between vert and lyft. still a market cap that's really only a small sliver of the value of uber. also, on today's agenda is a holiday shortened session. the market has been closed at 1:00 p.m. eastern time then on the political agenda today, we have president trump he is going to be speaking to the president of turkey this morning. the topic, peace in the middle east president trump tweeted about the rest of his schedule after the turkey call, i will be heading over to trump national golf club, jupiter, to play golf, quickly, hes in paren thesz with tiger woods and dustin johnson then back to mar-a-lago for talks on bringing even more jobs and companies back to the u.s. in other political news, sources telling the associated press the lawyers for the former national security advisor, michael flynn, has stopped working with president trump's legal team

he has moved the willingness to cooperate with special prosecutor robert mueller's investigation into russia interfering in last year's presidential election and there are other potential reason for flynn's legal team to stop cooperating with trump, including concern about future conflicts of interest. one other note, it's in the "new york times." our guest host not today, but last week, tom friedman has a piece in the times today with an interview with nbs of saudi arabia we've been having big debates about what's going on in the kingdom. >> two, you explained how they're doing this tribunal. he said that they're expecting as much as $100 billion to come in to the kingdom as a function of taking away this money. he said in some cases he said in about 1% of the cases they're finding that actually they're wrong. that means the government is wrong about what's gone on they're letting them go.

>> there's more than 100 cases it's more than 100 people that have been taken up in this >> oh, no. 1% -- i assume -- well, i don't know if it's 1% of $100 billion or -- >> 1% of the money >> the money >> 1% of the cases we're finding out, because, you know, maybe our numbers are wrong, but we're presenting -- they spent the past two years apparently going through doing these investigations this is what he said.

>> somewhere outside of the kingdom, i -- >> i haven't read the article, but has it been this way forever? that's my impression >> which part? is. >> if there was business being done there >> it's always been done the same way >> there's been graph for years and years. by the way, the other thing that tom said that was interesting was he talked about this -- the idea that locally in the kingdom the people at least broadly, and this is true of even the people i have been texting back and forth, are very supportive of this anti-corruption thing especially the younger people. you know, on the oursd here in the public in the u.s. we're thinking would you want to invest in saudis, but internally, this is going over very well. >> this is the same thing that we say about with china, right like president xi can step in and do all of these things, but

is he doing this and the accusations have been that he is doing this to get rid of his political potential opponents down the road. >> well, in this case and for obvious reasons, at least nbs on the record says that's a ludicrous idea at least from his vantage point. of course, that would be his vabtage point on all sides >> the doors open for holiday shoppers joining us right now with an update on this year's black friday is jill, senior vice president of marketing and business development for the mall of america, and thank you for being with us today. >> good morning. thanks for having me some retailers open on thanksgiving itself. mall of america has said no to that didn't do that last year didn't do it this year i guess i wonder what does that mean when you actually do open

your doors on black friday have you lost business, or do you think it actually makes more people show up today >> it actually really adds to the excitement and focus on the celebration of black friday. this was the second year that we stayed closed on thanksgiving to give that day back to thousands of our employees it really allows us to focus on the celebration and tradition of black friday shopping. >> what are you seeing this year national retail federation has said that they think holiday sales will be up by 3.8% we have a couple of analysts here on set with us bho are looking for even better growth they're estimating somewhere between 4.3% and 4.5%. what's your guess? >> you know what, we had 2,500 people at the front doors this morning. early indications show we're going to have a fantastic holiday season you know what,ing november was really strong already leading into this weekend. based on the nrf predictions we feel like we're right in par with that. >> are you expecting things to slow down here as we move past black friday >> you know, the retailers will

continue to have great discounts throughout the whole season. people are going to continue shopping with all the discounts and excitement, it will continue throughout the season. >> what are the newest experiences that you are offering in your center? i know you've had roller coasters and amusement parks anything that we should be watching in your center? >> mall of america is always a big experience for the last 25 years. it's so much more than just shopping it's the dining. it's the attractions, the entertainment. we actually have the opportunity to give that gift of experience and so the whole family can enjoy it together.

>> how do you chase that off how do you fight it? >> well, our continued success shows that brick and mortar and malls are going to continue to succeed. granted, we're not a traditional shopping center, but the key is about integrating the on-line experience with the on site and in store experiences creating that seamless integration and really celebrating what brick and mortar is all about. it's about the experience and making sure that when people are in the stores, that they can connect and build that relationship wrv. >> thank you for your time we appreciate it >> this black friday we should note more people expect to shop on-line versus at a physical store. who has the better electronics deals? best buy or amazon it we are joined now with a live

price check. deirdre. >> we still have a few hours to go weave been digging through the website to compare prices on electronics, on best buy which we're told are the same in the store versus amazon, and i have to say that so far it is very competitive. let me run you through some of the best deals top of the line tv a 55 inch samsung 4k ultra hd smart l.e.d. tv. it's a mouthful. it is the exact same price on am zbloon and best buy down to the penny. $ 97.99. 65 and 75 inch models. same deal. same price now, here's where it gets interesting. as of last night, best buy is offering free delivery for this product on sunday. that's three days earlier than amazon is offering even if you are a prime member

>> a mac book air is cheaper on best buy than on amazon, but it is sold out on stores and on-line on best buy. a third party merchant on amazon.com does have one at the high err price, and will deliver it as early as november 29th now, as andrew mentioned at the top, more people are expected to shop on-line than its stores this year. a good showing last night or later this morning here at best buy. doesn't necessarily mean a successful holiday season. >> let me just check looking at the line behind me, the store opens in about three hours, and there's just one person in line my producer and one of our cameramen says that that's unusual for this time of the day because they've been covering this for years >> deirdre, thank you for that

you've been doing that, and i've been trying to get electronics going here actually, i want the audience to weigh in i need to get a new pair of voice cancelling headphones. is anybody -- you like the bos over the ear >> i like the bose in the ear. >> i have over the ear, but i never use them >> i never use them. >> i lost mine on an airplane. i've been doing that best buy has a good deal going on them right now. >> if i find mine, i'll give you mine for free. >> that's a better deal. that's the best deal out there e-commerce giant is the sulk of fast companies cover story this morning. it's called the future of retail in the age of amazon we want to bring in the author this morning of that piece austin card. senior writer at fast company.

>> especially from a lot of young retailers and the big box stores the ceo out there, and there are more optimistic than ever and so we're going to see how that plays out as amazon keeps going into the backyard. >> you know, there's this side bar in your piece with what's called the five stages of amazon grief. denial, eveninger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance go through it with us. >> sure. i mean, each one of those stages just demonstrates just how people are reacting to amazon. i saw that firsthand i know we plucked those from a lot of earnings calls with analysts and shareholders. i actually heard that whenever i talked to some of these big box retailers during my reporting. you get the sense of, yeah, there is this phase of denial, phase of anger and so forth, and they're just sort of coming to grips with the fact that amazon is here to stay, and it's actually disrupting a lot of these businesses >> there's been a big debate whether you want to be on

amazon, whether they're going to protect your intellectual property, whether your brand is ultimately going to get ripped off. >> you have to be on amazon. if other third parties are selling it in a way you don't want to, you might have to relinquish control of the company if you own -- >> they're all using aws, the cloud computing to do their retail isn't that -- >> that is -- yep, that's totally correct. we spent a lot of time with the co-ceos neil and dave as well, and i do think you're seeing that trend you see him talk about it

earlier from mall of america's perspective, which is digital native brands moving to physical retail moving off line. >> you're going to see that trend coming a lot more, and those retailers, you know, they perfected their e-commerce experience can they combine that with physical retail as well? you're going to see that a lot more in the years ahead. >> austin, when you are thinking about physical retail and amazon, what's your take is amazon going to be buying more physical retailers? who is next? >> they saw it as a huge -- i think what's going to be an interesting test in the years ahead is to sort of measure the distance between every whole foods and every wal-mart i think you're going to see this big competition playing out between amazon and between wal-mart and the years ahead in what customers they go after what demographics they go after,

what neighborhoods we're trying to figure out what amazon is going to do with that kohl's deal and what that will give them if they buy that one day down the road. it's going to be a matter whof has those fulfillment centers and what advantages they can get from the physical footprints as well >> do you think -- thank you we're going to come back we'll talk to you during the commercial break thank you. the latest issue of fast company out this week. congratulations on that skre smart piece. >> folks, when we come back, how microsoft is driving renewable energy we'll talk to the company's general manager of energy next later, the state of retail former jc penney ceo allen questrom weighs in on the future of the department store. that's coming up at 8:30 a.m. eastern time stay tuned you're watching "squawk box" here on cnbc i think it's terrific.

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>> wack back we've been watching the stock market futures this morning. they've been picking up ground through the show right now looks like the s&p 500 has indicated to open up by 5.5 points the dow indicated to open up by 50 points.

>> remember, it's a half day of trading today. we close at 1:00 p.m. eastern. >> okay. the u.n. climate conference in germany wrapping up last week, and one of its prominent corporate participants was microsoft. software company was part of a coalition of u.s. businesses and state and local government officials reiterating their commitment to the paris climate accord here to talk about how corporations are driving demand for renewable energy, want to bring in brian janice, general manager of energy for microsoft. we don't traditionally think of a microsoft, brian, as an energy company or thinking about energy this way to you do you get involved in this conversation? >>. >> energy really is the raw material of the cloud.

>> how much energy do you consume in a given day >> we consume today roughly more than a small state not quite that of a small country yet, but we're certainly on our way there >> and when you think about how much of your systems are powered by renewables, what percentage >> so we're targeting 50% renewable energy by 2018, and i'm confident, you know, we're well on our way to get there then we also have another interim target of 60% early next decade ultimately, our goal is to be powered 100% by clean renewable energy >> how does that compare to your competitors? we've heard tim cook say that 100% of the u.s., at least, is renewables, is that right? >> there are varying numbers that you hear from some of our competitors.

>> how much is a philosophical view and how much is economical? >> i would say it's both one thing that's important to note is the cost of clean energy has come down dramatically over the last several years there's a recent report that showed that solar has fallen roughly 80% since 2009 wind has fallen 50%. such that both are now below conventional technologies unsubsidized it's also a legacy really if you look at what it is that we're building, this is massive cloud infrastructure and these data centers that we have now over 100 all over the world. these consume an enormous amount of energy. it's important to build is the right way. >> real quick, because we have to go. you guys charge each other a

carbon tax internally. you created sort of an internal carbon tax inside the company. >> there are other companies that started down that road as well we're excited to see other companies start to jump in and deploy a similar model >> okay. brian, i would love to hear more about that at some point we want to thank you this morning. wish you a happy thanksgiving. >> thank you same to you. still to come, all the biggest movers ahead of the opening bell, including a turkey day earnings from the maker of angry birds. stick around we'll be right back.

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>> good morning now. welcome back to "squawk box" here on cnbc we're live at the nasdaq market site in times square a day after thanksgiving happy thanksgiving, everybody. among the stories that are front and center rieb, some unwelcome news for amazon on this black friday we see here workers at the company's main distribution hub in italy, not going to believe this, they're going on strike today and a dispute over bonuses. this is a walk-out going on in six amazon warehouses in germany and an ongoing battle over pay and benefits also, take a look at this. shares are jumping in preet market this morning. it's always such a strange irony when news like this comes out and then they jump like this it follows reports out of israel that the drug maker will be cutting to 25% of jobs based in that country where they currently employ nearly,6,900 workers. bad news for employees and good news for investors shares of qualcomm are rising

this morning according to a reuters report broadcome considering raising its offer to buy broadcom current bid worth $70 per share. sources telling reuters that top qualcomm shareholders want at least 80 per share my own sources were suggesting we may see a bid by broad comsometime next week. we will watch to see whether that comes or not. >> the park will be serving hot butter beer. have you tried the cold? >> i vbt >> it's good i bet hot is good too. nbc universal, like cnbc, is owned by comcast back to the holidays and holiday shopping retailer target is betting big on the revamped stores and lower prices that it's put in, including some of the biggest deals on smartphones and other

electronics. >> what are you seeing so far? >> so far it's been a steady stream of foels that have come in here since the doors opened at 6:00 a.m. this new jersey target, like other targets across the country, did close overnight this is the first time that we've seen that closing in target stores between thanksgiving and wlak friday since 2011 target says it closed last night to restock and regroup, and that's in part because foot traffic typically falls in the early morning hours anyway the company is offering more deals on-line this year as it competes with amazon and other big box retailers like wall nart, and it says that's actually bringing shoppers into the store. >> we actually saw three times the amount of orders that were placed on-line to pick up in stores than we saw all day last year on thanksgiving really exciting to see that. >> so a lot is hinging on this

holiday season last week shares of target did tumble after it gave cautious guidance for the fourth quarter, which seemed to disappoint wall street investors while in recent years we have seen shopping for that month before christmas really sort of spread out black friday and the thanksgiving holiday weekend in general. still offers an early read on how target and some of the other retailers are positioned as we go into these crucial final weeks of the year. guys, this has been sort of one of the busiest areas here today. the electronics section. there's a lot of sales and deals going on here with these televisions. also, with some of the apple products as well back over to you >> morgan, thank you very much morgan brennan for us. as the competition among retailers grows, some stores like jc penney opened on thanksgiving day to try to get ahead of the rush. joining us is the former jc penney chairman and ceo allen questra. thank you for being here >> nice to see you, becky. >> let's start talking about jc penney, and then we'll open it

up from there. what do you think about this idea of opening on thanksgiving? autowe'ring you as the former ceo of jc penney you are somebody who is a retailing king been all over the place. i knew you as the ceo of a department store that is now ma macy's been a ceo at neiman marcus and -- >> you are have lots of retailing experience why don't you weigh in on what's happening with department stores in general people are talking about the death of the department store, how much tougher it is

>> i think it's an exciting time you have a lot of young tal ened people in the retail business. very creative. i think the challenge how do you combat where the customers are moving if they're going away, says you have to figure out what you are going to do to bring them back in i think you have to recognize that most of these department stores and bricks and mortar will never be as good as amazon and what amazon does well. i think what their great advantage is they have a personal connection with the customer >> they're trying to get better margins trying to get better products and the more exciting -- the business of the department store and any bricks and mortar is to create a theater, to create a reason for a customer coming into the store. if you can't excite the customer or you can't show a

differentiator, yu want to be in my store, you'll lose the battle i think, like in all things, capitalism gets rid of the people that won't come up to the table, and it creates greater opportunities for the customer i think as a retailer, these young people are going to see this as an opportunity and not something that's going to put them down. if you take bricks and mortar out of the question, there won't be much of a business. it is the platform of getting people introduced to new ideas they just have to leadership how to make that a better way of happening. >> go ahead. sflool the customer mgts to have e-commerce as part of their buying experience. as you see, people are buying on e-commerce and coming into the store to pick it up. i think it's figuring out what the different things you need to do to make your customer happy

nifs london the other day, and they have gone over that store, and it's absolutely unbelievable, and i look at the sales. they're up 16% that's a department store. now, they only have, like, 60 stores you have 60 stores, and you can get much better attention to what you do best >> do you think macy's is doing the right thing by closing a lot of stores? are they doing it fast enough? do they need to close more i got to tell you, i am seeing what you are talking about about it not being be there, but a lot of department stores, you can't even find somebody to help you ists all a mass of sales there's no point i think macy's is doing the right thing. penney's is doing the same thing. they have to close a lot of these stores because they just don't have the ability to focus their attention on making each of those stores something that a customer is going to be excited about. they also have to recognize they can't have profits they used to make the profits if you are going to be competitively priced with your amazon competitor, you are going to give free delivery.

your margins are going to come down make no mistake. you look at what's happened with wal-mart, and they've done a fabulous job introducing the internet and introducing better presentations on their floors in the stores. they're getting the combination of both. you have to constantly reinvent, and i think that team have done a great job. now, remember, they're at $50 a share. they buy an internet company that they're losing a lot of money on, their profits have come down. their stock is up at $100. i think you have to figure out what it is that attracts the customer and what attracts bureye beer of your stock. they're one of the ones that have done the best of all jobs they're taking advantage of the strength as a bricks and mortar retailer, but by making that better, but also making sure they also have the alternative >> i would ask you here. why has there not been a company that sort of stepped in the

breach i would think ups or fedex or some kind of logistics company that effectively offers this kind of service that amazon can for everybody else >> i think there are great delivery people. that is one of the things about the internet it is very, very few people who are in the e-commerce business to make any money. that includes amazon i think amazon over the 22 years they've been around probably made less than total $10 billion in profit. now, that's wal-mart makes more than that in every year. i think the challenge for the

bricks and mortar, focus odd that because that's my experience, is making sure you have an environment that makes people want to come in and see it that includes the millennials. people say millennials don't want -- that's a lot of nonsense they don't want to shop in stores that don't have any excitement to them, but they want to be excited when they go in and see a well presented store, they go to buy their -- they go to sephora, and they go to azara fast fashion because knee got the fashion product. they present it well it's well valued they also get to see ideas that they can put themselves together then you go into stores that have good sales associates that help people put things together that helps the customer put the whole wardrobe together. it becomes more complicated. more mixed and matched than 10, 15 years ago that person is very important to help that customer there's very few high fashion people use the internet to buy their clothes.

the text tours, the colors all of those things you can only see when you go in personally and touch. >> they're playing us out. they're going to kill me for asking this, but if you had one retail chain that you would could run today because you think it's so well positioned, which one would it be? >> i think the best position retail chain today is wal-mart and what they have done both with the e-commerce and the store and the reason i think there's so well positioned is they do 50% of their business in groceries. now, the e-commerce business they've done 1 % in grocery, and that's going to be a much more difficult business to get into e-commerce because people do like to go in and touch the fruit and smell the product and they like to touch and feel. i think that's a very difficult thing. they come in once a week to buy groceries, and i think when they're in there, they find the other things in wal-mart i think the fellow that they brought in from china, greg -- i think he has done a great job making their stores look a lot better, and they're making their internet something very viable today. i think they've, number one, but i still have hopes that penney's

and macy's will come to the table as well. >> it's always great to see you. really appreciate it talk to you soon >> happy holidays. >> you too thanks when we return, shopping on-line versus in store. we will continue that debate talk about massive cost savings. the e-commerce companies should be taking advantage of those, and maybe they aren't and how the retail game is changing. that conversation continues after the break. here's a live look it is black friday at the mall ecthmerica in minnesota. chk em out we'll be right back in just a moment

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welcome back to "squawk box. for retailers, the holiday sales push usually means big marketing costs, but thaes not always the case for e-commerce company. joining us right now from san francisco to talk e-commerce trends, the partner at -- where he sfoekss on consumer internet inversing. good morning we do usually talk about huge marketing costs and when you think about it, i would imagine -- i thought even the guys who are doing direct to consumer, we're talking about the all birds guys, the casper guys, i keep seeing them pop up in my facebook feed or my instagram feed they have to be paying through the nose for that, no? >> yeah. absolutely

>> when you are spending on-line to advertise, you have immediate feedback on how much the advertising costs and what the roi of the advertising is. with google and facebook being the plain channels on-line where e-commerce companies can advertise, they're not stupid. they're increasing their prices pretty significantly we're seeing a lot of our companies opt out and actually advertise less during this period because the roi simply isn't that good. sflool that costs more than it might have two or tree days ago? >> there's only a couple of places to advertise on-line.

facebook and google are going to take advantage of that and charge significantly more than they typically do in another five-day period. >> and so what type of -- what type of increase is the advertising cost during the period >> you know, it's hard for me to say. it depends on a category by category basis, and a lot of the algorithms that facebook and our company uses determine what it spend automatically, but it wouldn't be surprising to see if the 50% to 100% increase during this period. >> you seem to be a big fan of these direct to consumer bands >> whether you want to take advantage of an amazon or a wall mart, where do you land on that? >> yeah. well, we have over half dozen e-commerce companies in our portfolio. some like casper, which have partnered with amazon and

they've got a great sale today both on their website and also a big push with am skblon today. we're actually the largest shareholder in jet.com, which now is a big part of wal-mart's e-commerce strategy. it really just depends on the market and also the market position some of my casper who has gone mainstream is and has increased in sale 300x since we invegsed, they need to push on all channels possible. a company that launched relatively recently like brandless.com, is a lot less likely to push on amazon so quickly or be present in retail stores >> hey, right before we go, is there other -- any other advertising platform that you think makes sense these days is there a cheap dark horse in this game that we're not thinking about i know we keep saying google and facebook, which is obvious, but i wonder where does snap -- is twitter anything or even oath

with all of the different franchises that are now under that verizon umbrella. >> yeah. no, all of our companies are spending the vast majority of their performance marketing budget on google and facebook. >> snapchat more in the experienceial phase. one marketing channel that a lot of people haven't -- podcasting. when podcasting can pick the host that matches your market for the message in their own voice from the host, it's very powerful, and it's where we're seeing some of our best roi for our companies. >> thank you happy thanksgiving >> thank you glad to be here. >> talk to you soon. well, folks, the next time

you return something to a store, think twice. you are being tracked by a ratings type company to judge if you are a problem returner eric joins us right now. he has that story, and, airpg, what are they going to do? ban me if i bring too much stuff back >> maybe maybe. that's what happens. you know this experience, ever tried to return something in a store you've been asked for your name, address and even form of i.d. there's an he cequifax type comy that rates whether you're a problem returner it's trying to combat all kinds of fraud like people who wear something then return it over and over again or crooks trying to get cash for stolen goods, even people who buy items cheaper online and then try to return them in stores for a profit. the retail equation says it denies 1% of all returns for being problematic. they've done about 600 million returns but that means about 6 million returns are problematic ones another type of tracking, when they personalize market

campaigns. look at the two e-mails, might get them at the same time. you can get one from the same retailer, highlighting women's shoes and i might get the same one and high litting bags instead. it has two billion consumer profiles globally. it works with 400 brands, including fila and just fab and doc martins, it is based on your shopping history and online behavior for example, they know customers will generally open their order confirmation e-mails and track what time you open the e-mail and send future promotions at that same time of day because that's when you're most likely to open the message. a lot of different ways people are getting track the, buying and returning, you might get banned that's what they'll do, ban your return if you have a habit of doing it too often. >> even if it's somebody who let's say buys three different

shoe sizes every time. just asking for a friend. >> they have return a holiks, if you're really aggressive, buying three, returning two is not that bad. i can imagine there are people buying 20 and returning 19. that's the kind of thing they are trying to avoid. >> this is creepy, they are tracking us every time we walk in a store too. >> those cameras. >> good to see you. >> when we return, it is make or break time for retailers in all of the categories, toys looking to be one of the most promising for spending increases from last year we'll get a live report from toys "r" us next you don't want to miss this, jeff gennette will be on "strauk on the street" at 9:00 a.m. eastern time retail. under pressure like never before. and it's connected technology that's moving companies forward fast. e-commerce. real time inventory.

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what is that toys are serious business especially in the sorkin household. it is one of the categories consumers will spend more on compared to last year.

ad aditi roy has a look at the hottest toys and headwinds for the industry. >> good morning, we are here live at a toys "r" us store in huntington beach, california we've been here since 1:00 this morning. it opened at 5:00 yesterday on thanksgiving day they stayed open throughout. we were surprised at 1:00 in the morning to see dozens of shoppers here. you can tell it's a little lull right now but expect things to pick up 6:00 local time. hot wheels are big this year they are saying as they always are and these hatchimalls remember these were hottest toys last year, they still very popular and selling really well here analysts expect things to go well for the toy industry this year analysts say that over npd market research group that consumers will be spending 8% more on toys this year over last the national retail federation estimates 41% of adults will be spending on toys this year, that's 1% lower than last year but higher than the year before.

but one possible headwind to realizing the expectations might be the toys "r" us bankruptcy, hasbro, the iconic toy maker had to lower its q4 guidance as a result of the bankruptcy but one of the ways toys "r" us is trying to nab one or more black friday shoppers and get them through the door, having deals an video games and consoles, might be making somewhat of a comeback despite the explosion of dimg tal downloads. we talked to one shopper who went to best buy, target and walmart. she was surprised to see this fifa '18 game on sale here half price at 30 bucks. same price as they were at the big box retailers. back to you guys. >> aditi, anyothk u very much. >> we both have toys that -- >> in the market for these things, making our list. what powers the digital world. communication.

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♪ >> good friday morning, welcome to "squawk on the street."